Time Turner
by TimeTraveler24
Summary: In a desperate attempt to assure the Order of the Phoenix's victory in the Great War, Hermione goes back in time to Tom Riddle's seventh year, with the goal to kill him. Draco Malfoy unknowingly tags along, and the both of them embark on a mission to kill Tom Riddle, but for two completely different reasons. Who will win Hermione's affection, Tom Riddle or Draco Malfoy?
1. Prologue

Adrenaline pumped fast through my veins. Everything around me seemed to disappear as I focused all my thoughts and energy on the duel I was currently fighting against Bellatrix Lestrange. There was no lack of anger or resentment in me as I threw curse after curse. As I looked at her, all I could think of was the permanent scar on my forearm that would mark me for life. Any pity or regret I felt for doing this melted away as I remembered the word that was permanently burned into my arm; mudblood.

We traded a few more curses. I've dodged a few cruciatus' and avada's, and sent a few of them myself. Deciding to switch it up, I threw a basic, yet effective spell at her.

"Stupefy!" I yelled as I made the required wand movements. Not expecting this, she hesitated for a moment. Just the time the curse needed to reach her. She was thrown backwards into the wall and when she landed, she did not move. Not knowing if she was unconscious or dead, and hoping for the latter, I ran away.

My mission now, was to get to Dumbledore's office. He left me a secret mission, saying that if the Order was losing, then this would be our last resort. I didn't know what the mission was, but I trusted Dumbledore to give me a mission I could complete successfully.

I made it inside the castle without much trouble; most people were duelling each other one on one. I knew getting to Dumbledore's office would be easy as the battle was being fought outside.

I finally reached his office a few minutes later. Out of breathe, I muttered the passwords and began my ascent up the steps to his office.

I opened a secret cabinet on his shelf that was otherwise invisible to those who didn't know it was there. Inside it was an envelope. Peering inside, I pulled out a time turner and a letter. I put the time turner around my neck and began to read the letter.

"Dear Ms. Granger,

The time turner I have included in this package is enchanted to send the wearer back in time farther than any ordinary time turner. Under normal circumstances, I would discourage anyone from changing the past, however in these difficult times I see no other option. If you are reading this, then I am dead and you have come to the conclusion that the Order will not be able to stop Lord Voldemort. I know this goes against everything you stand for, but I implore you to go against the rationality of your brain and see that this is the best way to save lives. Done correctly, this could save thousands of lives.

Thank you, and good luck.

Your friend,

Albus Dumbledore

P.S. 15 turns should do it."

I stared down at the letter. He was correct; this did go against everything I had ever been taught about the timeline. But he was also correct in saying that this was the best way.

Making a quick decision, I started to spin the time turner.

I got through ten turns when suddenly the door was blasted open, and the Prince of Slytherin, Draco Malfoy strode in. I gasped, and kept turning.

It all happened in seconds. I was being grabbed, just a few more turns to go. He wasn't under the necklace, so I didn't believe he could go with me. I quickly finished turning the time turner.

I felt the familiar feeling of being pushed and pulled in all different directions. I closed my eyes, feeling sick. In the midst of the travel, I realized that I could still feel that someone had a hold of me. It was impossible! There was no way Malfoy had been able to travel with me; he wasn't under the chain of the time turner!

I finally landed. I collapsed to my knees, taking deep breaths and willing the nausea to go away. My moment of peace was interrupted by a groan.

"Where are we?" Malfoy moaned, holding his head. I sat up and looked around at our surroundings.

"Looks like we're in the Forbidden Forest. Couldn't tell you how far from the castle though." I answered. "And if Dumbledore was correct and I did this right, we should be in the year 1945."

"1945? Why in the bloody hell would you need to come back this far? Can a time turner even come back this far?" He questioned.

"Dumbledore enchanted it to come back this far, and this will be Tom Riddle's seventh year at Hogwarts. I was supposed to come back to stop him, and I guess now you can help. Unless you enjoy being enslaved to the evil bastard?"

"Of course I don't." He muttered bitterly.

"Good. Great. Well we might as well set up camp for the night; we'll need time to come up with a cover story and fake paperwork." I told him. "You get some firewood, I'll put up wards and conjure up a tent for us."

He wordlessly got up and began collecting dead branches from the ground. I was surprised he was taking this so well. I was expecting him to demand me to send us back, or for him to attempt to prevent me from completing my mission. I don't know what I expected from him, but it definitely wasn't complete cooperation. That made me extremely suspicious; Malfoy's don't do anything unless it benefits them.

After putting up the wards and setting up a tent, I helped Malfoy in collecting firewood. After we had a sufficient amount, I lit the fire and we sat on logs around it until it got dark.

"I expected you to try and stop me." I admitted after a few minutes of silent. He was quiet for a moment, deep in thought.

"The truth is," he began, then hesitated "I've never wanted to follow the Dark Lord. It was a survival tactic for me to do his bidding to the best of my ability. If I didn't, he would have killed me and my family."

"The Order could have protected you." I pointed out. He scoffed. I raised my eyebrows in confusion.

"You would have all been suspicious of me being a spy. Not to mention, you all hate me. Not that I could blame you. No, not after what my family and I have done to you lot."

I felt myself feeling guilty. For what, I did not know.

"Maybe now's the time to redeem yourself." I told him.

"Maybe." He replied.


	2. Chapter One

You know that time of morning when you're in the perfect position, your body is at the perfect temperature, you're at that perfect point between being conscience and asleep, and you feel absolutely blissful?

That was me at the current moment. I felt better than I had in years, and every problem I had at the moment seemed so far away. I could hear the peaceful chirping of the birds, and could feel the warmth of the morning sun beating on my body, warming it in the most perfect way.

As soon as reality crashed down upon me and I became capable of rational thought, all these things became irritants. The sun was too hot, this position was hurting my neck, and the birds were squeaking horrendous notes that woke me up completely.

There was also the fast that an entire bucket of water was dumped on my from above.

As soon as the frigid water hit my warm skin, I sat up spluttering. I blinked rapidly and spit out the water, gasping. Above me stood Malfoy, frozen. His jaw had dropped. After it had registered in his mind that he had spilled water all over me, he began laughing.

"This is not funny!" I shrieked. I was sopping wet, and glad that I would be able to use magic to dry off.

He put the other bucket of water down, tears spilling over his lids in joy. He wiped his eyes and began to finally calm down, breathing heavily.

"Oh you think this is funny, do you?" I said to him seriously. I didn't want to admit that after my initial shock, I had begun to find this funny as well. I scrambled to find my wand, and aimed it at him.

"Aguamenti!" I cast. His laughing stopped abruptly as he was now soaked to the bone as well.

He stood there for a moment, looking down at himself and then back up at me. I stood with a smirk embedded in my face, my arms crossed.

"Not so funny now, is it?"

"These were designer robes!" He yelled, trying (and failing) to disguise the note of humor in his voice.

"They'll dry!" I told him. "Just like mine will. I promise you the world has not ended!"

He was completely sobered up now, as was I. The feeling in the air became serious again as we got down to business. We both dried off, and began conjuring fake documents so that we may enroll into Hogwarts.

"What do you want your name to be?" I asked him as I was creating the documents.

"I think to avoid confusion we should stick as close to our actual names as possible. Actually, seeing as you're a mud-" he shook his head and blinked. "Muggleborn, you could keep your name the same. As for me, I think I shall just take your last name and we can be twins."

"Yes, we look so much alike." I said sarcastically.

"Fraternal twins, genius." He remarked. I found myself smiling. He smiled back.

We both finished up the documents, agreeing that we would head to Hogwarts as soon as possible. We conversed on the way there, finding out that we shared a love of books and learning. We talked about our likes and dislikes. Just like me, he too enjoyed spending evening curled up around a fire, reading his favorite book for what seemed the millionth time. He enjoyed the pudding they sometimes served at dinner, and loved to take walks around the great lake during the fall and spring.

"But how could you not enjoy flying? Feeling the wind ruffle your hair, and being so high up that it seems as though your problems could never reach you?" He asked me.

"Well that's just it; I'm terrified of heights!" I admitted to him.

"It's different though, when you're controlling the object you're on and you decide how high and how fast you go." He informed me. "Have you ever flown on a broom before?"

"Not since first year when we were mandated to take lessons with Madam Hooch." I told him. "Even then I didn't go more than the required 15 feet above the ground."

"I think you would enjoy it if you gave yourself the chance." He commented. I shrugged.

"Maybe."

After a while, as we neared Hogwarts, the conversation turned serious.

"Do you think, we could be friends when we get back to our time?"

I hesitated. Not because I didn't believe we could be friends, but because I wasn't sure we would be able to get back. Dumbledore had given me a way here, but not a way back. I assumed I would find out when I got here.

He took my silence as a whole different answer.

"Nevermind, that was a silly thought. Of course not; we're from two different worlds. You probably hate me-" He said. I cut him off.

"No. I mean, it's not that-"

"Then what is it?" He demanded. I hesitated again. Before I could tell him, he figured it out. "You don't have a way back, do you?"

"I'm-I'm looking into it. There must be something in the Hogwarts library; perhaps in the restricted section." I answered.

"Maybe." He muttered. We continued along in silence. I stared at the ground as we walked. I had always trusted Dumbledore. Surely he knew I'd be able to find a way back? Or did he send me back knowing that there was no way back, and expected me to know that? I hoped it was the former.

Soon we arrived at Hogwarts. We walked right up to the huge castle, and asked a couple of students to direct us towards the Headmaster's office. They looked at us weirdly, I assumed because we were new. Hogwarts never got new students so I'm sure this was an odd occurrence for them. Finally, we made it to Dippet's office.

"Hello hello!" He greeted us. "Come on now, sit! May I offer you some tea?"

We accepted his offer and soon a house elf brought us some tea.

"Sir, if we may get down to business-" I began.

"Yes yes! Of course!" He interrupted. I paused. "Well go on then!"

"We want to transfer to Hogwarts. You see, we were homeschooled in France but we got caught in the war." I allowed tears to well up in my eyes a bit for dramatics. "Our parents-they didn't make it. And I know they'd want us to complete our education here."

Dippet processed our story for a minute. I dabbed at my eyes with a handkerchief handed to me by Professor Dumbledore, who had remained silent. I knew he could see straight through our story. I knew I would have to tell him the truth, I just hoped he went along with it for the time being.

Dippet on the other hand, believed every word of it. We gave him our paperwork, and he read through them to check for authenticity.

"Brilliant, brilliant students. Yes, I think you'll be perfect additions to our school. Might even give the top of your class a -as the muggles say- run for his money!" He commented. I smirked, not being able to hide the fact that he was stroking my ego. I was normally humble and modest, but when it came to my intelligence, well, my Gryffindor pride showed.

"Looks like all we need to do now is sort the both of you. We shall do that at dinner tonight, before the feast when we introduce you to the other students.

The rest of the afternoon was spent taking a tour of the castle. Of course, we knew this castle extremely well, but they didn't know that. We were given supplies and new robes and were given some money to get more clothes on the next Hogsmeade trip on Saturday, two days from now.

Dinner came soon enough, and we stood up front as Dippet shushed the students. When everyone was silent, he introduced us.

"Good evening students! I want to introduce you to two new students here at Hogwarts. They will be in their seventh year. Here are Hermione and Draco Granger!"

We were met with a welcoming applause, and as the noise died down, Draco was sat on the stool. Professor Dumbledore rested the sorting hat on his head, and just like last time, the hat immediately called "Slytherin!"

The Slytherin table cheered loudly, and Draco sat down next to what I assumed to be other seventh years.

I sat on the stool, expecting the hat to sort me into Gryffindor, or even Ravenclaw.

Dumbledore placed the hat on my head, and it began whispering in a voice only I could hear.

"Hermione Granger hmm? I believe I have already sorted you, or shall I say will sort you. You've grown up a lot since then, I can assure you. Definitely not Hufflepuff, and you would be a great fit to Ravenclaw if only for your brains. Gryffindor or Slytherin it is then. Hmm. One will help you achieve your goal and the other may not help it at all. So it must be -"

"SLYTHERIN!"

I could tell the look on my face was pure shock. I glanced down at Draco, his expression showed that he was also shocked. We both froze as we stared at each other. He recovered and patted the bench next to him. I came back to my senses and slowly walked down to the Slytherin table. I sat next to him.

Dippet announced a few more unimportant things, and I stared quietly down at my plate as he talked. Soon he announced that the feast was to begin, and everyone stockpiled their plates with so much food that you would have thought that they hadn't eaten in months.

I grabbed some food, but not a whole lot. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, especially not after being sorted into Slytherin. After years of thinking of this house as evil, I could not believe I was now a part of it. I supposed it was convenient, since Riddle was in this house, but every bone in my body screamed "Gryffindor" at me. I felt as though I betrayed Harry and Ron. Imagine what they would say if they could see me! Ron would be angry; his face would be as red as his hair, and he'd be yelling that the hat made a mistake. Harry would just look at me with the disappointed look that only he could make that would make me feel guilty.

"Hermione? You okay?" I heard Draco say as he grabbed me shoulder. Shaking my head out of my thoughts, I smiled up at him.

"Yes, I'm fine." I answered. "Just a bit tired."

"Yeah, me too. But I wanted to introduce you to a couple of people. This is Theodore Nott, Avery Black and Abraxas Malfoy."

"Of course. Nice to meet you all." I smiled politely. I nervously took a bite of my food.

"So Draco tells up you're going to be in all advanced classes, correct?" Abraxas questioned her. The black haired boy (who had stayed quiet) glanced up, beginning to pay attention.

"Yes, I am actually." I answered. I knew if I could compete with Riddle that would draw him out and make him notice me, so I planned to beat him in every subject.

"Is that so?" The black haired boy next to me piped up. I glanced up at him, taking in his features. His hair was perfectly combed, not disheveled in any way. And his eyes were the perfect shade of bluish gray. He had a naturally perfect complexion, with ruby red lips.

"Yes," I answered. "Hermione Granger. And you are?" I offered my hand.

He grasped it firmly with his cool dry hands.

"Tom Riddle." He answered with a wide smile, like a cat staring at it's prey. I suddenly felt very small and extremely intimidated. With my Gryffindor courage, I swallowed my sudden fear and grasped his hand as firmly as he grabbed mine.

"Pleasure," I smiled.

He let go of my hand first.


	3. Chapter Two

After dinner, Riddle insisted on escorting us to our rooms.

"It's okay, we can find our way. I wouldn't want to inconvenience you," I pleaded with him. He wasn't having it.

"Nonsense. Wouldn't want you two to get lost, now would we? It's no problem; I'm heading there myself anyway."

"If you insist." I sighed, conceding.

"Of course. Right this way," he said, leading us to the dungeons.

The temperature continuously dropped on our way to the dungeons, and being the warm blooded lioness I am, I began to shiver. I tried to hide it, but both Draco and Riddle noticed. Draco wordlessly handed me his cloak, and I accepted it gratefully. I would have to get used to the low temperatures. I always used to freeze in potions, and now I would be in the cold temperature for a majority of my time.

The descent to the Slytherin dorms seemed to take forever. It was a mostly silent walk, for which I was grateful. It gave me time to think; something I haven't had in a while. I looked around, pretending to not know exactly where we were. Draco did the same.

The only sounds were our shoes tapping against the stone floors as we walked and the crackling of the flames in the torches that led the way. We passed a few students who were trying to get things done, or meet up with friends before curfew, but other than that it was just us.

It was awkward. So very, very awkward.

A few minutes later, we made it to the dorms. He showed us the common room and where our rooms were going to be, and I was relieved when he finally left us to go to the library.

I went straight to bed after saying goodnight to Draco, and almost immediately after laying my head on my pillow I descended into sweet, blissful unconsciousness.

I screamed in intense pain, my body burning from the inside out but freezing at the same time. My muscles spasmed, protesting any movement yet feeling so restless that I couldn't help but flail around. The pressure in my head increased, and the feeling that my eyes would literally pop out of my head at any moment increased tenfold. I grit my teeth so hard that I tasted blood. Tears streamed down my face, spit shooting out of my mouth as I inhaled and exhaled violently between screams when I needed air. My nails bit into the palm of my hand and I squeezed my hands into fists.

Finally, the excruciating pain stopped. My chest heaved for air, and my muscles forcefully contracted. I lied on the ground, staring up at the ceiling blankly. I could hear Bellatrix asking me questions that I couldn't possibly attempt to answer. The life was drained out of me. Even as she grabbed my face, threatened me and slapped me around a little bit, I couldn't respond. This was my biggest fear; that she would torture me into madness.

Suddenly, that seemed funny. I started cackling, the laughter not showing in my eyes. She looked at me, annoyed, knowing what she had done to me. Finally, thankfully, she pointed her wand at me and said the words I had been waiting to hear.

"Avada Kedav-"

Suddenly I woke up gasping. I sat there panting for a few seconds, realizing quickly it was only a dream. These kinds of nightmares were a normal occurence, but I would never get used to them. I laid back down and closed my eyes, allowing my heart rate to slow down before I got ready for the day. I looked at the time, it was 6 am. Two hours until breakfast. I got up and took a shower and got ready. By the time I was done, it was 7:30.

I went down to the common room only to see that it was pretty full. This was really odd for me; the Gryffindor's in my time were never up and ready this early.

I found Draco reading a book in a chair by the fire. Once he saw me, he got up.

"Ready for breakfast?" he asked casually, walking towards me.

"Yeah. I'm starving!" I answered. He smiled and we began our journey to the Great Hall.

Our first class of the day was potions. With Gryffindors. I was so excited. Draco was dreading it.

After we ate, we began our descent to the dungeons. He was brooding, and I had a skip in my step. We were purposefully late, in an attempt to seem like we really were new. This plan, however, backfired as the only two seats left were the most inconvenient seats imaginable.

"Ah! You must be Hermione and Draco, the new students." Professor Horace Slughorn said, greeting us when we walked into the classroom. "Well there seems to only be two seats left, so Draco you can sit next to Mr. Potter, and Hermione you can sit next to Tom!"

At the mention of sitting next to Harry's ancestor, Draco's jaw slightly dropped before he recovered. Though his expression was emotionless, I could imagine the turmoil inside of him. I wanted to laugh, but I didn't in order to keep up appearances. He gave me a look, knowing what I was thinking. I threw him a smirk, and he narrowed his eyebrows at me. Then we both looked away and sat in our respective seats.

"Riddle," I greeted as I sat down. I began unpacking my things, laying out a piece of parchment, a quill and ink for me to take notes with.

"Granger," he said politely. His side of the table was empty. I assumed he would have been taking notes like me, but I suppose he's too intelligent to need notes.

"Today, class, we will be learning about the Amortentia potion." I rolled my eyes; I could make this potion in my sleep. Slughorn also taught us this potion in my sixth year. I noticed Riddle looking at me, probably suspicious as to why I rolled my eyes. I looked down. "Can anybody tell me about this potion?"

Making a quick decision not to hide my intelligence (mostly because of my pride,) I raised my hand. So did Riddle.

"Ah Tom, I think we'll let the lady take this one. Hermione?"

"Yes sir, amortentia is a love potion considered to be the most powerful in existence. It causes a powerful infatuation, or obsession in the drinker. It has a different aroma for each person, for example I smell freshly mown grass, new parchment and spearmint toothpaste."

"Very good!" Slughorn praised. "10 points to Slytherin!"

I smiled and nodded at him humbly, beginning my notes.

"Miss Granger is correct, it is an extremely powerful love potion, however I'm still going to allow you to brew it in small quantities. The instructions are in your textbooks, bring a labeled vial up to my desk when you have completed it. You will be working in pairs." Slughorn explained. Everyone grabbed their cauldrons and began working. I turned to Riddle.

"Would you like me to go grab the ingredients?" I asked him.

"No, I will." He said and walked off. I shrugged to myself and began preparing. I cleared the table, set up the cauldron and began reading over the instructions. I crossed out a few things, and put in the instructions that the Half-Blood Prince had written in Harry's textbook. Soon enough, Riddle returned with the ingredients.

We divided up the ingredients and instructions, and I noticed him trying to give me all the simple tasks. I huffed, annoyed.

"Riddle, I'm perfectly capable of assisting in making this potion!" I said to him, crossing my arms. "Let me do something!"

"Fine!" He exclaimed. We then separated the tasks equally, and I was satisfied. At one point, I began stirring the potion, but instead of doing it clockwise like the instructions said, I stirred counter-clockwise as the Half-Blood Prince had advised. Riddle was quick to jump on my case.

"What are you doing, you fool?! You're going to destroy the potion!" He whisper-yelled at me.

"Just trust me, it'll turn out better this way." I told him.

He leaned in close, so that only I could hear him.

"If you ruin my potion and cause me to get less than an O, I will hurt you." He threatened.

"Not worry Riddle, your precious grades aren't in any danger." I hissed at him.

He sneered at me and backed away. I looked over to Draco and saw him watching what just happened between Riddle and I. I half smiled at him to reassure him, and he nodded and turned away.

A few minutes later, our potion was done and I was proud to say that it was the exact shade it was supposed to be. I had a proud, triumphant smirk on my face, and despite having his precious 'Outstanding,' Riddle looked annoyed. Slughorn came over to us and looked at our potion.

"Well done, well done!" He praised. "You two did a fantastic job, it looks like an 'O' to me!"

As soon as he walked away, I bottled it up and began packing up my things. As I slung my bag over my shoulder and went to leave, I whispered in Riddle's ear.

"Never insult my intelligence." I told him. As I left, I patted him on the shoulder. I knew this was going to piss him off to no end, and I was making myself a target, but I had to do it. I could feel him seething as I walked out, and I smirked so hard that even Draco would be jealous. I felt alive.

After class, both Draco and I had a free period. We decided to spend it at the lake, having a picnic. We went to the kitchens first and kindly asked the house elves to make us a picnic. Then I conjured up a blanket, and we sat out by the lake and ate.

It was really fun. I haven't felt so relaxed and silly in a long time. Not since Ron, Harry and I could hang out without the pressure of the Order or the war bearing on us. It was innocent and fun, we talked about school, shared embarrassing stories and laughed our asses off.

We began to share some grapes that the house elves had given us when I had an idea.

"Hold on Draco! Open your mouth." I asked him. He looked confused for a second before doing as I asked. I took a grape and threw it at his face, attempting to get it in his mouth. Instead of hitting my intended target, his hit his eye and bounced off.

He stared at me for a second, and then began laughing so hard he couldn't breathe. He was holding his stomach, and his head was thrown back. A deep, loud laugh escaped his lips, and I couldn't help but laugh with him.

It was then that I noticed that we had become friends. Besides everything that stood in our way, being born enemies, a war, and being thrown back in time, we had managed to get over our differences and be friends. I realized then that I had forgiven him for the awful things he had done, like call me a mudblood, betray and almost kill Dumbledore, and try to stop me from coming to the past. It was a good feeling, and I felt as though he had grown a lot in the past year.

"I have a crazy idea." He told me once had sobered up.

"Oh yeah, what's that?" I asked him, amused. He smirked, and then took his robes, shirt and pants off, leaving him in just his boxers.

My face immediately turned red, and I got extremely confused. He looked at me for a second, ran his hand through his hair, and bit his lip.

Suddenly, he began sprinting into the lake. He ran into the water, and began splashing around. I laughed, and didn't make any move to join him.

"I don't have my swimsuit!" I yelled after him.

"Neither do I!" He yelled back, smiling at me. I took off my robe, skirt and shirt, leaving me in my bra and spandex. Then I ran in after him.

After about an hour of swimming and splashing around, we got out of the water. We were freezing, so I quickly grabbed my wand and cast a drying spell on us.

"What do we have next?" I asked him. He took his schedule out of his robe and looked.

"Arithmancy," He groaned. I smiled. I loved arithmancy.

"Well we have about thirty minutes, so we should really head there now." I said to him.

"Good call." He said. He picked up his bag, and I went to pick up mine when he grabbed it for me.

"Gee Hermione, what do you keep in here? Rocks?" He complained.

"You don't have to carry it," I told him, moving to grab it. He wouldn't let me though.

"It's okay, I've got it."

"Okay, but it's your shoulders funeral." I told him.


	4. Chapter Three

Our first few weeks went by without any drama. I continued to be the brilliant student I always have been, and have actually been having fun doing it. Tom Riddle was a challenge. We were always debating in class, and fighting to be called on to answer each question. As time went on, I knew I was becoming more and more of an enigma to him. He was getting curious about me, I could tell by the way he looked at me and talked to me. I wasn't sure if that was what I had wanted or not. I went back in time to change the future, but becoming such a prominent and mysterious figure in the future Dark Lord's life seemed extremely dangerous. I had to watch ever word I said, and every move I made towards him.

And then there was Draco Malfoy. My feelings for him became more and more complicated with each passing minute. I had accepted the idea of us being friends after being enemies for almost a decade, but other feelings were starting to get in the way, and I wasn't sure what they meant. I often caught myself just watching him. How the muscles in his forearms moved gently with his wand movements, and how white and straight his teeth were (maybe that's just because my parents were dentists), and how his hair blew in the wind. I noticed his lean, muscular body and how intelligent he really was.

There were many problems with having a -dare I say it- crush, on Draco Malfoy. One, he could never like me back. Although he accepted muggleborns now, I had a feeling he would still like to keep the "purity" of his bloodline. Two, in this time, we were supposed to be siblings.

And there was my dilemma. It kept me up at night, and I often wondered if we would ever be able to start something if we went back home to the future.

Thinking about the future made me think of Harry and Ron. There was no way they would ever accept me being _friends_ with Draco, let only being anything more. But I wouldn't be going back to _my_ Harry and Ron, would I? It would be a different version of them. A version of them that wasn't plagued by the grief and sorrow of war. Would they even be friends? Would they be friends with me?

I had no idea what the future held (despite being from the future.) Could you even change the future? What if my fate had been to come back in time, and the reason the war began was because I went back in time to stop it? What if everything I was doing was in vain? What if my actions were the cause of Tom Riddle becoming Voldemort?

I couldn't think like this; I had to keep moving, and do everything I could to change the future. If the future is already decided, then what will worrying about it do for me?

Presently, I was at a Quidditch match. I thought that I wouldn't have to go to them anymore, but as fate would have it, Draco joined the team as their new seeker. It was interesting to watch though, I had always wondered if Draco actually had real talent or not. Thinking about this reminded me of the time I had accused him of buying his way onto the team, and him consequently calling me a mudblood for the first time. I can laugh about it now that Draco and I were friends, and I am still proud of myself for being able to stand up for my friends as well as myself. That was a skill I learned quickly at Hogwarts.

I watched Draco hover midair while the game continued, searching for the snitch. He looked extremely focused, and he didn't notice when a bludger was headed his way.

I was about to yell for him to watch out, panic bubbling in my chest, when he suddenly sped off. I saw a flutter of gold in the air, and knew he had spotted the key to winning the match. I started cheering for him, noticing Ravenclaw,s seeker flying after him. I quickly considered casting a confounding charm on him, like I did to McLaggen when Ron was trying out, but decided against it.

They were both extremely close, and almost had it when suddenly, Draco leaned too far forward and went straight in for a nose dive. He was too late trying to pull back up, and hit the ground hard. There was silence for a moment as he lay on the ground, unmoving. Tears quickly rushed to my eyes and I gasped in shock before he sat himself up slowly, raising his right arm in the air for everyone to see the golden snitch in his hand. There was suddenly a deafening roar in my ears, and I found myself screaming and cheering for him. Once I came to my senses, I ran down the bleachers and to the exit of the field to wait for him.

He caught me in a hug immediately after seeing me, and I noticed then how tall he was. I was on my tip toes trying to reach him, and he still had to bend over slightly to hug me. I smelled his cologne, not recognizing it. It was heavenly, and I assumed it was something rare that you couldn't only get if you had the equivalent of Bill Gates' wealth in galleons.

"I decided to go all Harry Potter on this match, what did you think?" He asked, letting me go.

I smiled, but smacked his shoulder in fake anger. Though I know it didn't hurt, he still put a hand on his shoulder and said "ow!"

"You could have been hurt!" I yelled at him. I wasn't being completely serious, and he could tell. He had a lopsided grin on his face.

"What can I say? I wanted to be the hero for once."

"Okay everyone," I said as the prefects in the room began dying down. "We need ideas; Halloween is in three weeks, and we want to host a big event, such as a dance, or a haunted house or anything, really. I'm opening a suggestion box; you all have three days to submit ideas, and after that, Tom and I will pick three ideas that we think are the best, and you will vote on it and we will start planning it. Any questions?"

No one raised their hands, and I looked to Tom to see if he had anything to add. Since he didn't, I continued.

"Alright, this meeting is over but before we go-" I started handing out sheets of papers. "-here are your patrolling schedules for the next week. If you want to switch with anyone, that's fine just let me know, but there will be no skipping shifts or getting out of them unless you have a signed note from a professor. Questions? Alright, dismissed."

Everyone shuffled out of the room, taking a look at the schedule and groaning about what nights they had to patrol. Pretty soon the room was cleared, leaving Riddle and I.

"You're getting the hang of this," Riddle commented slowly. I packed up my things, ready to leave, when he shut and locked the door. I felt my stomach tighten in nervousness.

"Something you'd like to talk about, Tom?" I asked carefully. I discreetly took my wand out of my robes and held it in my hand, ready to use it if need be. He noticed and chuckled.

"You don't have to be afraid, Hermione. This is just a friendly chat!" He smiled widely, dangerously. His pristine white teeth shines brightly. His smile reminded me of the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.

"A friendly chat requires you to shut and lock the door?" I questioned innocently. This was turning dangerous, fast. He walked passed me, shrugging. I resisted the urge to turn right away and not let my back be to him at any moment. Instead, I heard him sit down, and that's when I casually turned around.

He was sitting in a chair, his feet up on a desk, twirling his wand around in his hand. I tightened my grip on my wand.

"And have your wand handy?" I added.

He pointed his wand at me. "You had yours out first."

"You locked the door!"

"Details." He rolled his eyes and waved his hands.

"What do you want Riddle?" I demanded.

"We're back to Riddle now, are we?" He teased. I glared at him. "Okay, right down to business then. I want to know the truth, _Granger._ Who are you, and where did you really come from?"

"Like I told everyone, my brother and I are from France, and we came here after Grindelwald attacked and killed our parents." I told him, my eyes watering towards the end. I always was a good actress.

"Hmm..there are many flaws in that story. One, you don't speak French nor do you have any kind of accent. Two, there are no records of any Grangers in France. And don't try to fool me; I have friends in very high places. If I needed to find someone, I would be able to. Yet I can't find anything on you, your family, or any wizarding family named Granger at all." He said smugly.

"Well that's just it Tom; there is no wizarding family named Granger." I told him. I knew it was extremely dangerous to tell him that I was a muggleborn, given the circumstances, but it was better than him finding out the whole truth; that I was sent from the future to destroy him.

He looked thrown off, but only for less than a second. Then he recovered, and smirked.

"You're a mudblood." He stated. "That makes sense."

"Yeah? Well this mudblood just so happens to be just as intelligent and adept magically as you, if not more!" I said defensively.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Hardly."

"Oh Tom, you shouldn't wear your heart on your sleeve like that," I said, mocking him. "It's so obvious that you're bothered by the fact that I'm an inferior _mudblood_ who is just as good as you!"

With that, I stalked towards the door and silently waved my wand, unlocking it. I slammed it behind me and headed towards the Library for some late night reading.

My temper always did get the best of me.

No matter how much my rational mind screamed at how stupid I was, I couldn't help but feel a little proud that I stood up to him like that.

I suppose that's the Gryffindor inside me.

For the first time ever, I couldn't focus on what I was reading. I couldn't stop thinking about the situation that Draco and I are in. We are stuck in the past, with a suspicious and evil soon to be Dark Lord, and no way back to the future.

I sighed heavily put my hands over my eyes, my elbows on the table. We needed a plan.

At first, I was just going to agitate Riddle enough so that his emotions would take over, causing him to make a mistake somewhere and get caught. Now, I had no idea what to do. He has no emotions, no irrational part of him that I could exploit. I'd have to try a different approach.

I had three options: I could take a more violent route, and find a way back to the present, kill him, then go back home before I got caught, or I could slowly gain his trust, and take him down from inside. My third option was to simply go back to the future. I know, it seems cowardly but if we destroy Riddle, what kind of future do we go back to? A good one, where there is no war? Possibly. But more likely than not, we would go to a future with a different, possibly worse villain. I could be sentencing other people to death, while the people I'm saving get to live. But who gave me the right to play God? Dumbledore? I don't have the right to choose who lives and who dies, and I don't want that burden. What if I did change something when I was here, and it didn't change the future at all?

I could feel a migraine coming on. I had the fate of the entire world on my shoulders, and I don't know what I should do.

Giving up for the night, I put all my books away and headed to the dorms. I realized it was 11:30 at night; way passed curfew for most people. Luckily as Head Girl, I got certain privileges that others didn't.

I walked through the dark corridors alone, with only the sounds of my footsteps disrupting the silence. I wasn't scared; I'd done this a million times as a student.

A few minutes later, another pair of footsteps join me. They're quiet enough and in sync with mine so much that a normal person wouldn't hear, but I was different. I grew up paranoid and aware of my surroundings. I ignored them for a minute longer.

"Who's there?!" I yelled, drawing my wand and spinning around. "This is your only warning!"

No response.

"Expelliarmus!" I yelled, aiming randomly in the darkness. My spell hit nothing, but I was soon met with a counter spell.

"Stupefy!" I heard a male voice yell.

"Protego!" I say just in time. "Lumos maxima!"

The whole corridor lights up, and I see no one there. Confused for a second, I paused. That gave them just enough time.

Whoever it was yelled stupefy again, and I was knocked about ten feet backwards into the air, landing on my back. I groaned, and reached for my wand.

"Accio!" The voice yelled, my wand flying towards them.

I blinked a couple of times, trying to get the blurriness to go away. When I opened them up, I saw a tall figure standing over me.

"Malfoy?"


End file.
